Hidden Darkness
by Dark Sault
Summary: Kirin had a pretty normal life up until the darkness took it all away. Determined to get it back, Kirin teams up with three unlikely heroes. But as their adventures continue, he begins to unravel a dark secert hidden within his past and himself.
1. Dreams

I awoke to find myself staring at a blinding light and shadows dancing all around me. I tried to move but found myself unable to, like I was strapped down to where I am at. The shadows continued to dance around me as they were chattering amongst each other as I was unable to make out what they were saying.

Suddenly, I felt something being jabbed into my side as I let out a cry of agony. Whatever they injected me with was causing exclusionary pain throughout my body as I could feel the unknown substance coursing within my veins. I let out a blood-curdling scream as they began injecting more needles into me, making me violently thrash around.

"Sustain him!" a voice called out as several of the shadows grabbed me, holding me down in place while the others continued to stick more needles into me, injecting more unknown substance into my veins. I let out another scream of agony as tears began to flow down my cheeks from the unbearable pain I was receiving.

The shadows kept sticking more needles into my sides, arms and legs until a final needle was stuck right into my heart. My heart started to beat rapidly as it felt like the injection was slowly melting my heart, making me scream out in pain again. "We're losing him!" one of the shadows desperately yelled out before another shadow got right into my face. "Stay with me, ya hear!" the shadow instructed me.

It didn't take long before my thrashing became less violent and I could feel my heart beginning to slow down. I stopped moving all at once as I couldn't feel my own heartbeat anymore. "He's gone, sir." one of the shadows spoke up before the shadow who had his face right into mine looked away from me.

"Dang it, another failure. Alright, dispose of him before he turns and let's bring in another." the shadow said before the straps that held me down came loose, but I still couldn't move any part of my body whatsoever. I was then suddenly lifted up off the table and guided towards who knows where before I was thrown into a darkened world where I began to go in and out of consciousness.

* * *

><p>I awoke with a jolt, sweat dripping from my face and my heart beating on overload as I was breathing like I just ran a whole marathon without stopping. I frantically looked around only to find myself in my room. "Huh, it was that dream again..." I mumbled out as I slowly began the process of calming myself down.<p>

I've been having that same dream for as long as I could remember and no matter how many times I have it, I still can't get over how real it felt. Every aspect of the dream felt so real, it was hard to comprehend if it actually was real or not.

As soon as I was able to calm myself down, I hopped out of bed and got dressed for the day. I quickly threw on my black winter hat to cover my over-spiky hair, a sleeveless Camo vest that had many pockets. blue baggy shorts and black combat boots. I then wrapped both of my palms and lower half of my arms with bandages, which I don't know why but it just feels right. I rubbed some crust from my brown eyes before looking outside at yet another beautiful fall day.

I continued to look out the window at my home, Hearts End, a small town stationed near the top of the mountain with a population of four hundred and fifty people. Hearts End only had a few points of interest to the town, but none of them were as interesting as the place where me and my friends usually go, a large field with a lake that leads to a cliff overlooking the savannah. Just being at that place felt like whatever happens, everything will be okay.

Suddenly, there was a knock at my door but before I could ask who it was, four figures barged into my room. I let out a sigh and shake my head as my friends all piled into my small room. Chad, Derrick, Adrian, and Emma were their names. Chad was the oldest out of all of us; me by three months and everybody else by two years. Chad was six inches taller than me as he had black curly hair, olive eyes and wore a dark green zip-up sweater, black jeans and red shoes.

Next to Chad was Adrian. Adrian was a whole foot shorter than me but despite his size, he was pretty strong, with blond spiky hair, sapphire eyes and wore a dark red long sleeve T-shirt under his open black with white outline vest, orange jeans and yellow shoes. Derrick was three inches shorter than me with black long hair, goldish eyes and wore a black headband around his head, a tan jacket with white fingerless gloves, teal shorts and white and red shoes.

Last but not least was Emma, the smallest and youngest of the group. Her shoulder length hair was blond with hints of pink within her hair, violet eyes and wore a pink with white sleeveless jacket, a pink knee-length skirt and white shoes. "Hey, are you alright Kirin? You look like a wreck." Chad pointed out before I shook myself to clear my subconscious from the dream.

"Oh, sorry." I said apologetic. "I'm okay. It's just that I had that dream again..." I softly said as they all looked at each other, knowing exactly what I was talking about. Ever since I told them about my dream, they kept reassuring me that it was just a dream but nowadays its just becoming meaningless.

"That dream again?" Derrick asked, crossing his arms. "There's something really going on inside your head."

"Oh thanks." I mocked back before we all had a little laugh about it, cheering me up a bit.

"Hey Kirin, you going to sign-up for the SwordPlay Tournament?" Emma asked as everybody looked at me with curious eyes, making me feel a bit nervous. "The SwordPlay Tournament? Gee, I don't know. I haven't practiced with WindBreaker in a while. What about you guys?" I asked, looking at Derrick, Chad and Adrian.

"Nah, I don't feel like it this year."

"Sorry, but Backstabber is broken."

"They wouldn't let me sign-up this time around."

_Wow, what lame excuses those were_, I thought to myself before the attention was back on me. "So how about it, Kirin? You going to sign-up?" Emma asked again before I let out a defeated sigh and nodding my head. The four let out a cheer and congratulated me on agreeing to be part of the SwordPlay Tournament.

"Alright, let's get you signed up." Chad said as everyone agreed and we all headed out of my house and into the streets of the town. We made our way to the town square where they were holding the tournament. The SwordPlay was a tournament that was held every year where one-on-one battles took place with wooden swords. The object of the tournament was to beat your opponent to the edge and throw them off into the mud pit below.

The winner of the tournament gets a mysterious prize which is different every year. Last year's prize was brand new wooden sword with neat designs and the year before that was a trip to somewhere. The losers were always given the same thing; a gratitude for participating and a better luck next year.

When we reached town square, some of the townspeople were hard at work building the stage for the tournament as others were busy putting up banners, posters, tents and various of other things. "The sign-up is right over there." Adrian said, pointing to a lone table where a single guy sat with a magazine in hand.

I let out a sigh and walked over to the table and looked down at the sign-up sheet. "Looking to sign up?" the guy asked, not looking up from his magazine. "Yeah, is this where you sign up?" I asked, making sure this is the right spot.

The guy looks up from his magazine to look sternly at me. "Nooooooo, this is where the soup kitchen starts." the guy answered sarcastically. Wow, he sounds like a nice guy, I thought before rolling my eyes and luckily signed my name right into the last slot. "Your lucky kid, you're the last one." the guy said, resuming to read his magazine again.

"Yeah, thanks for the notice." I said before leaving the guy alone and back to my friends. "Is it official?" Derrick asked with curiosity in his tone as I looked at him with bit of a smile. "Yep, its official. but I'm going to need to get in a few practices if I'm going to have any chances of winning." I said as my friends nodded at me.

"Alright, grab WindBreaker and meet us at our spot. Got it?" Chad asked but before I could answer him, they all walked away, leaving me to question what is going through their minds. But considering that their my friends, its anything but good.

* * *

><p>By the time I grabbed WindBreaker and made it to the fields, the sun was beginning to dip and I found that I'm the only one here. "Where are you guys?" I questioned to myself as I looked around one more time, seeing nothing but the scenery. I let out a sigh and look at WindBreaker in my hand, deciding whether or not to practice. WindBreaker was not your ordinary wooden sword with two planks of wood nailed together. The whole sword was entirely made out of Rosewood, giving it a reddish look and can withstand mass amount of damage.<p>

WindBreaker also had a guard for better grip on the sword as it looked a lot like a pirate sword than anything else. It felt awkward to hold WindBreaker in my hand after all this time with not practicing. Normally, I only used one-hand when I used it but the only time I use two-hands is when using certain attacks. I let out another sigh and began practicing with basic strikes before advancing to more harder combat moves.

I kept practicing my moves until the sun nearly touched the horizon. Huh, I guess I feel like I could do it now, I thought to myself, having a bit more confidence for the tournament. I looked around the area again to see if my friends are anywhere, but it seemed like I was still the only one here.

"Where are they?" I asked out loud, getting paranoid that my friends aren't here even though they said to meet them here hours ago. Scenarios began to play through my mind as they could be doing anything by now. What if they forgotten about me? Or one of them got seriously hurt while coming here? Or something bad happened at town that I missed?

My thoughts were then interrupted as soon as I heard rustling through the grass. I turned around and luckily blocked a surprise attack to find out it was Chad with Backstabber. "Wait, I thought Backstabber was broken?" I asked Chad as he gave me a smirk. "Well, I guess I lied, didn't I?" Chad said before pulling his sword away and went in for another attack.

I blocked his attack and pushed him away from me before going into sort of a fencing stance. Chad laughed a bit at my stance before rushing over to me and swung Backstabber. I ducked out of the way and swung my sword at him, only to come in contact with his. The majority of our battle was swinging our swords at each other and dodging each others attack until I was luckily able to get the upper hand.

Chad tries to attack me once more, but I block his attack and quickly sweep my sword from under him, making him loose balance and a grip on his sword. Chad lands with a heavy thud as I grab his sword from mid-air and point both of them at Chad. "I guess I win..." I mumbled to him with a smirk on my face.

Chad smiles and I help him up before he yells out, "Yeah, he's ready!" Confused at first, I tried to think of what he was doing before the rest of my friends appeared. "Wait, you've all been here this whole time?" I asked a little irritatedly as my friends nodded to me. "Yep, you were really great when you were practicing." Emma said excitedly.

"Really?" I asked confusedly.

"You sure were! Those moves were amazing! And the way you took down Chad? You'll defiantly win the tournament." Derrick said as everybody nodded in agreement. I looked at each of my friends individually before giving them a smile of how they've really helped me with everything. "Thank you... everybody." I said softly before Adrian came up to me and slapped me on the back.

"Now don't go all teary-eyes on us now. Save that when we're not here, okay?" Adrian said, making me laugh as I planted my hand on his shoulder and shook it. "Okay, I promise." I said before we all looked over the cliff and out at the horizon as the sun was nearly out of sight. We all sat on the edge of the cliff, silently watching the sun glide down.

"You know, I've always wandered what was beyond the savannah." Emma said, keeping her eyes on the horizon as the rest of us all looked at her in confusion. "I've been thinking, maybe we should all just go." Emma said before turning to us with a grin on her face.

"Go? You mean leave Hearts End?" I asked as Emma nodded her head and looked back out into the horizon once more. "Yeah! One of these days we should all go see others worlds and see new people. Who knows, maybe we'll find our own adventure or our own destiny." she said as I begun to think about what she is saying.

"Our own adventure..." I repeated to myself before I looked at Emma with a smile. "That actually sounds... promising." I said as everybody looked at me for a moment before Emma giggled and smiled right at me. "So, what do you all say? You in?" Emma asked before putting her hand in front of us.

"Count me in!" Derrick said, slapping his hand on top of Emma's.

"An adventure sounds just about right." Chad said before also throwing his hand in.

"I've always wanted to see new things!" Adrian said before putting his hand in as well.

Everybody looked at me as I thought about it one more time.

_Our own adventure. _

_Our own destiny. _

_Just waiting for us out there._

"Yeah, your right." I finally said before sticking my hand in the pile before we all yelled out 'We promise!' and threw our hands into the air before we laughed and went back to looking out the horizon again. Just before the last of the sun's light was behind the horizon, Chad looked my way and smirked at me for a moment, giving me an unsettling feeling of what's going through his mind.

"Hey Kirin, how 'bout one more battle before we go home. You vs. me, Derrick and Adrian." Chad suggest with another smirk on his face which was starting to scare me. "What?! Are you nuts! I can't take all three of you on at the same time." I said, getting to my feet as they all looked at me in a bit of confusion.

"Oh come on Kirin, how bad could it be? Who knows, you might be good enough to beat us." Chad said as I began to think about it myself, rethinking of all the possibilities that could happen. Best case scenario: I could actually hold myself against three enemies at once. Worst case scenario: I'm going to get one heck of a beating.

"Alright, your on!" I said as Chad, Derrick and Adrian smiled and got up to retrieve their weapons before I walked towards the middle of the field with WindBreaker in hand. Derrick, Adrian and Chad stood opposite of me as they all held their wooden swords in defense. _Here goes nothing_, I thought before letting out a sigh and took my stance, readying myself for a difficult fight.

The wind blew through the field, carrying a bit of a cold breeze with that, making me shiver a bit. "Okay, are you ready?" Emma asked in a loud tone as she thrusted her arm up into the air. "On my mark!" she said as me, Derrick, Chad and Adrian stood still, waiting for Emma to call for the battle to start.

"GO!" Emma said before Chad, Derrick and Adrian rushed toward me, wooden swords ready. I firstly countered Derrick's attack before dodging Chad's and finally knocking my sword into Adrian, sending him to the ground. I swung my weapon at Derrick, but I only came in contact with his sword. Mine and Derrick's swords clash together a few times before he swept his foot from under me, making me fall to the ground.

I landed heavily onto the ground as air escaped me. As I was recovering to get air back into my body, Derrick got ready to slam his weapon into my chest. I quickly rolled out of the way and got to my feet before swinging my sword and coming in contact with Derrick's side, making him drop to his knees in pain.

I turned my attention to Chad who was watching me face Derrick before he took a stance. We both went at it but only to have our swords clash with one another. I tried to sweep kick him to the ground, but apparently he saw that coming and countered it. Chad brought up his sword and tried to slam it down on me.

Luckily I moved out of the way and put my boot onto his sword, preventing him from lifting up his sword. I swung WindBreaker into Chad's shoulder, making him let go of his sword and fall to the ground. I then turned my attention to Adrian who looks like he's finally recovered from my last attack. I rushed over to bring a final blow to him, but it looked like he wasn't finished yet.

Adrian blocked my attack before coming at me with his own. I countered each one of them, but his attacks were so fierce, it felt like WindBreaker could snap from one of his blows. I had to come up with something quick before Adrian finally got lucky or WindBreaker snaps in half just before I had an idea.

I allowed Adrian to get in a few more blows before I put my plan into action. As soon as Adrian slammed his weapon into mine, I managed to knock it out of his hand before ramming WindBreaker into his stomach, sending him back to the ground and clutching his stomach in pain. I finally turned my attention back to Chad who astonishingly recovered from my last attack.

"I guess I win." I said already throwing my arms in the air in victory. Chad chuckled a little before looking at me with his usual smirk. "Not quite." Chad mumbled out before I looked at him in confusion before he whistled. The next thing I know, I'm totally swept up from my feet as I flipped through the air before landing heavily onto my stomach.

I started to wheeze and cough for a few moment before lifting my head up to find three swords stuck right in my face. "It looks like we win." Derrick said before celebrating their victory. I scuffed at their surprise attack before a hand was shoved into my face and I look up to see Chad ready to help me up. I smiled a bit and took his hand as he helped me up from the ground and patted some of the dirt off me.

"You did good. Alright, get some rest, you've got a tournament to win." Chad said before we all packed up our stuff and made our way back to town.

* * *

><p>I awoke to find myself in a field of some kind with the sun beating down on me. <em>Huh, where am I?<em> I asked myself looking around before spotting my friends all standing near the cliff, looking out towards the horizon. I got up and started running towards them but I soon realized that I was going nowhere. No matter how fast or how hard I ran, I kept moving away from my friends and further into the field. _This must be a dream_, I thought to myself.

I tried to yell to them but nothing came out of my voice as they disappeared from sight and day quickly turned into night as I was left stranded within an endless field and a dirt road that looked like it could go on forever. _What is happening?_ I asked myself before I felt like I was being watched from behind.

I turned around to see who could be there only to find nobody there, but the feeling of being watched was still there. Suddenly, there was a rush of wind that blew so hard, it lifted me off the ground and sent me flying through the air. I tried to regain my balance in the air but found it impossible until the wind stopped and now I was free-falling sideways toward a sideways town.

I soon realized that I was free-falling towards Hearts End. I was falling a little too fast toward the ground but before I could brace myself for impact, I slammed into the ground back first. I didn't feel no pain as I slowly got to my feet and dusted myself off to see that the field was gone. I looked around my hometown to find that it was totally empty.

I continued looking around the empty town to see if I could find anybody still around. By the time I reached the town square, I caught sight of my friends huddled against a wall, surrounded by strange creatures. These creatures black and small, like two feet tall, bulb-like heads, two curved antennas sticking out of their heads, their arms were half their height with claws for fingers and their feet were completely flat with four claws on each foot.

The creatures looked at my terrified friends with unblinking, glowing yellow eyes. Emma looked past at the creatures and right at me before she started yelling something to me, but no sound came out from her lips. Without thinking, I rushed in between the creatures and my friends and was ready to use myself as a shield.

'Don't worry, we just need to find a way past these creatures.' is what I wanted to say to them, but no sound came outta me as well. I looked back to see if my friends were safe but found that there was nobody there no more. What?!I cried out just before one of the creatures decided to attack. I'm scratched on the cheek but I still felt no pain, but I backed up only to find myself against an edge.

I suddenly lost my balance and fell into the darkened abyss. I struggled to gain control in the air as my body began to feel stiff, almost feeling like a statue. I shut my eyes for a moment to kept myself from hyperventilating. I reopened my eyes to see that I'm no longer falling and instead, back in Hearts End.

But something felt different now, like something's off about the whole place. I looked around but saw nothing and decided to look around for the source of this feeling. As I looked around, I began to notice that the town looked gloomier, like someone or somebody sucked the life out of this town. I didn't feel safe here as I turned and started running for a way out of the town.

I kept running for some quite time, but found no way out of the town as they seemed to be blocked by invisible walls. I tried running further into town to see if there was another way out of here but I was stopped by a hooded figure. I looked around me to find more hooded figures surrounding me. There was thirteen hooded figures around me as no matter where I turned, they were there.

Before I could force my way out of their circle, darkness opened up below my feet as I was being dragged into it. I tried pulling myself out of the darkness but no matter how many times I pull, I'm sucked deeper into the darkness. Slowly my whole body is consumed into the darkness as I'm free floating through nothing but pitch black as whispers began to invade my brain.

There were so many whispers, like hundreds of people talking at once, it was hard to try to follow even one. I tried to cover my ears to block out the whispers, but they seem to be coming from my brain. Suddenly there was at least one whisper that I could understand as it kept repeating over and over until it was the only one that I could hear.

"The door is open."


	2. Darkness Has Arisen

"Welcome one and all to our 117th annul SwordPlay Tournament! Please welcome all of our combatants!" the announcer yelled through a microphone as the crowd cheered for the thirty-two, including me, contestants standing on the stage. I wasn't really paying much attention to anything as my mind was on last night's dream. Even though I should be more focused on what's happening now, that dream kept invading back into my subconscious.

"The rules are simple; there is no time limit to push your opponent out of the ring and into the mud. Contestants may use their feet to kick or sweep your opponent. Using any other parts of your body to strike your opponent is prohibited and results in a immediate disqualification. Contestants may also make the other opponent forfeit the match by any means necessary. Good luck to all the contestants and have fun." the announcer said before we all made our way down the stage and sat within the crowd, waiting for our names to be called to fight.

I sat with my friends as they excitedly waited for the tournament to begin. My mind kept repeating a certain part of the dream where no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reach my friends. _What could that mean?_ I asked myself, trying to figure out what any of it actually means, but nothing really came to mind.

"Hey." I suddenly hear Adrian's voice interrupt me from my thoughts as I turned to him. "No matter what happens, we'll still be rooting for you." Adrian said as I gave him a bit of a smile. "Thanks." I said before the announcer made his way onto the stage again and cleared his throat, making everybody quiet down to listen who was going up first.

"Alright everyone, our first contestants to face-off is...Kirin vs. Boras!" the announcer said as the crowd cheered and me and Boras made our way onto the stage with our weapons. Boras was a cocky and arrogant fifteen-year-old who always wears a yellow shirt, blue jeans, teal shoes and a bandana around his neck. This I could already tell was going to be an easy fight because he always signs up every year and gloats that he's going to win, only to lose during the first or second round.

Plus, he rarely practices with his sword which he calls 'Indestructible', always laughing off peoples remarks about practicing and always saying that he's number one and doesn't need to practice.

"Your going down!" Boras said with a smirk as the announcer looked at both of us before asking if we were ready. "Ready!" we both said in unison as I got in a bit of a fencing stance while Boras on the other hand looked at me with uninterested eyes, like I was an unworthy opponent to him.

As I awaited for the announcer to begin the match, my mind flashed back to the dream, distracting me from focusing on what's happening. I guess the match started because Boras finally took a position and raced toward me, yelling out on of the most annoying battle cries I have ever heard.

"AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!" Boras yelled while charging at me in full speed. I easily blocked Boras's attack but I didn't attack back mostly because my mind was on something else other than shoving Boras right into his place.

"Come on Kirin, you can do it!"

"Show that shrimp who's boss."

"throw him out already!"

"You got this Kirin!"

My friends kept cheering me on but that wasn't enough to keep my mind on task. That is until Adrian's voice suddenly invaded my mind with what he said before. '_No matter what happens, we'll still be rooting for you'_. All at once, my mind became clear from the dream and whatever else was distracting me as I got ready to end this match. There was no way I was going to disappoint my friends after what they've done for me.

Boras races towards me again but this time I sweep my foot from under him, making him trip and fall flat on his face. "Owie, owie, owie, owie, owie!" Boras cried out, clutching his nose in pain and kicked all around in frustration as I couldn't help but laugh about it. Boras stops squirming around and looked at me in anger before he grabbed his sword and rushed toward me once again.

Boras began blindingly swinging his sword around as I evaded all of them before getting behind him and gave him a friendly push right off the ring and right into the mud pit below where he lands face first. "Ladies and Gentleman, I give you this match's winner...Kirin!' the announcer excitedly said as the crowd cheered and applauded before I jumped off the stage and returned back to my friends who congratulated me.

As the first round continued, I kept mental tabs on all the winning opponents who were all highly skilled. I'm going to need very careful when facing them. "And now, for our last match of this round, Mark vs. Arjay!" the announcer said as Mark and a figure made their way onto the stage. I moved through the crowd a bit to get a better look at this figure before finally catching a glimpse.

The figure known as Arjay was wearing a hand band around his long blue hair, high-tech goggles preventing me from seeing his eyes, a masked scarf, a brown over coat, black leather gloves, brown jeans and black leather boots. Even though he looked weird, he had a dark sense to him, something that just made me shiver.

"Your going down you masked freak!" Mark antagonized to Arjay who just stood there quietly. Mark was about only thirteen-years-old but despite his age, Mark was a fairly skilled fighter. But even though Mark was a skilled fighter, he was as cocky and arrogant as Boras. "Fighters are you ready?" the announcer asked loudly as Mark got into a defensive stance while Arjay did nothing.

"Mark," Arjay said in a rather deep voice, sending another chill about him down my spine. "I'm giving you one chance, stand down and forfeit." Ajay said as Mark looked at him confusedly before he busted up laughing. "Forfeit? Are you kidding me? No way Blue Hair, that winners prize is as good as mine. You or anybody else isn't going to get in my way to it." Mark said before taking up his defensive stance once more.

"Let the match...BEGIN!" the announcer yelled before anybody could blink an eye, Arjay was already at Mark before slamming his weapon into his chest and sending him over the ring and right into the mud pit, leaving Mark, the crowd and even the announcer beyond stunned. "Well..." the announcer said, not knowing what to say before he tried to gather up his composure.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please give an applause to our match's winner, Arjay!" the announcer said as the crowd awkwardly clapped for Arjay before he turned around and looked straight at me. My heart began to pound within my chest as Arjay kept staring at me. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

Our little stare down only lasted ten seconds before a hand grasped my shoulder, making me break eye contact and see who it is. "Hey, there you are. That was a great match huh?" Derrick said with a smile as I looked back onto stage to see if Arjay was still staring at me only to find that he was gone.

"Yeah...Interesting match..." I softly said as Derrick looked at me in confusion. But before he could ask what's wrong with me, the announcer spoke up once again. "And now, it's time to start our second round. Would you please give it up for our first match, Isabel vs. Kirin!" the announcer exclaimed as the crowd began to cheer and applause before me and Isabel went onto the stage.

Isabel was seventeen-years-old, black short hair with purple eyes. She also wore a black and with a black with white poke dots bandana around her head, an unzipped orange combat vest with a black tank top underneath, sky blue shorts and black tennis shoes. Despite her odd appearance, Isabel was a fierce fighter and you never want to get on her bad side at all.

But I wasn't paying much attention as I was overlooking into the crowd, searching for Arjay within it and sure enough, I find him standing right next to the scoreboard, goggles trained right on me. _Who is this guy? Whoever he is, he's giving me a bad feeling about him. What his he hiding anyway?_ I asked myself over and over again before I was interrupted.

"HEY! Are you just going to stand there and gawk at the scenery or our we going to fight?" Isabel yelled out irratedly before I turned my attention back to her and took sort of a fencing stance. "That's more like it." Isabel said before she took a defensive stance and awaited for the signal.

"BEGIN!" was all we heard before Isabel took off towards me, sword ready. I only had enough time to block her first attack before she retracted and slammed her sword into my knee cap, making my knee buckle and sending me to my hands and knees. Suddenly, Isabel rams her sword into my side, sending me down completely onto the ground and towards the edge of the ring. Okay, being hit by a girl is bad enough but to lose to a girl, I'd be the laughing stock to the whole town for generations to come!

I let out a groan of pain before I saw Isabel above me, ready to slam her sword into my stomach but before she could, I quickly rolled out of the way as Isabel's sword ricocheted off the ground and out of her hands before landing right near me, rendering her unarmed. Before I could cease the opportunity to grab and use her sword as an advantage, Isabel ran straight for me before kicking me in the stomach.

I stumbled backwards but kept my balance just as Isabel swept her foot from under me, sending me to the ground once again. I quickly recovered back to my feet just as Isabel retrieved her sword before attacking. I blocked her attack as she rammed her hilt of her sword into my face, causing blood to drip out of my nose and a newly opened wound.

The crowd gasped and muttered amongst each other as I wiped my nose to see the extensive blood on my hand and arm before I look at Isabel who looked a little stunned at what she did as well. I wiped a little bit of blood from my face before I took a fencing stance, surprising everybody.

At this point, Isabel was unsure whether to attack me or not, but me on the other hand raced towards her and swung my sword. Isabel only had enough time to block my attack before I slammed my sword into her side of her arm, causing her to grip her arm in pain and stare intensely at me. Isabel swung her sword fiercely at me as I blocked and evaded her attacks.

I suddenly kick as hard as I could right into Isabel's stomach, sending her stumbling back and fall to her knees in pain. I felt a little sorry for kicking her that hard in the stomach before she sprang to her feet in rage and slammed her sword hard into my right arm, making my arm go completely numb, leaving me with one arm to cooperate with.

I ducked under one of Isabel's attack before blocking another and pushing her away from me. I swing my sword at her and make contact with her hip, making her stumble backwards before I swung my sword again at her sword which flies out of her grip and into the mud pit below, leaving her unarmed again.

But instead of fighting back to retrieve her sword, she lifts her hands up in front of her and does something I didn't suspect her to do.

Surrender.

"I forfeit." Isabel said as I lowered my sword and stared at her in utter shock. Isabel retrieves her sword before she walks up to my and shakes my numb right hand. "That was quite a fight you put up. I'm very impressed." Isabel said before she slowly made her way off the stage and into the crowd.

"Remarkable! Even though injured during the match, he kept fighting! Not even a girl will stand in this kid's way. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you this winner's match by default...Kirin!" the announcer excitedly said as the crowd roared into a cheer and applause before the announcer came onto the stage and handed me a towel in which I used it to clean the rest of my blood off of me.

I scanned the crowd again to find Arjay still looking at me through his goggles. _Arjay, whoever you are, I'm going to find out what you are exactly hiding..._

* * *

><p>Nearly five rounds and a few tough fights later, I've finally made it to the final round. I looked across the crowd at where Arjay, who was my final opponent, was standing as he kept his eye sights on me the entire time. It was a bit weird that every opponent Arjay went up against, he asked them to forfeit the match and if they refused, he quickly beat them out of the ring in ten seconds or less. Meaning that I'm going to have to be careful when facing him.<p>

"And now, for all you've all been waiting for. The final match has came! KIRIN VS. ARJAY!" the announcer screamed out as the crowd erupted in cheer and started chanting my name and Arjay's. I looked at my friends to see them all smiling at me and gave me a thumbs up before I made my way onto the stage where the announcer and Arjay were waiting.

"Congratulations for making it this far. Finish strong." the announcer silently said to me as he shook my hand before turning to the crowd. "Are you all ready?" the announcer asked as the crowd cheered in joy. "Then without further ado, let the final match commence!"

I looked over at Arjay who seemed to not have moved a muscle since arriving on the stage as I got into a fencing stance. "Before you even say it, no I'm not forfeiting the match for your purpose!" I said before getting into a fencing stance. Arjay just stands there, motionless until he looks up right at me.

"Kirin, you must wake up." Arjay said, not saying anymore.

"Huh?" I asked confusedly but before I could ask what he meant by that, Arjay attacked. Arjay disappeared and reappeared right next to me, only giving me a second to react and block his attack. Arjay kept attacking me, only giving me a few seconds to block each one before blocking another. Suddenly, Arjay swept kick me off my feet and onto the ground before jabbing his sword into my chest, making it hard for me to breathe.

I kicked out and hit Arjay in the stomach, making him back off of me as I rose back to my feet and attacked but Arjay deflected my attack. Arjay then rapidly swung his sword around, making me try to block them all but it was getting harder and harder block them all. Arjay slams his sword into my stomach, making me fly through the air and land close to the edge of the ring.

I look into the crowd to see the shocked expressions on the crowd's faces as they silently watched the match go on. I looked over to where my friends were as they were yelling things to me.

"Get up Kirin!"

"Come on, whoop that guy's butt!"

"You can do it!"

"Hey, is it too late to change my bet to Arjay?"

That last one kind of got to me as I got up and attacked Arjay with full force. Arjay easily blocked most of my attacks before kicking as hard as he could, sending me flying across the ring once more, slamming my head onto the wooden surface this time around and making my ears ring and my vision blur in response.

I slowly got to my feet as I could hear the crowd chanting out something but I couldn't make out what they were chanting out. I looked at a blurred version of Arjay as he slowly made his way towards me. I swung my sword at him but he easily deflected it and pointed his sword right at my chest, awaiting for me to forfeit the match.

"You know what, no matter how many times you try to get me to forfeit the match, I'm not forfeiting for your pleasure. You might as well finish it and throw me into the mud pit." I said, spreading my arms out and awaited for Arjay to finish me off. "So be it..." Arjay said before bringing his sword up to finish me off, just like I hoped.

I quickly reacted and deflected his sword away from him before swinging my sword upwards, catching Arjay right in the jaw and sending him halfway across the ring. I race over to him and block his kick with my sword before slamming it into his chest, making him stumble backwards closer to the edge.

Arjay dodged a few of my attacks but thanks to my persistent attacks, it prevented him from attacking back or get out of my reach to get to his sword. I took one last swing at Arjay as my sword slammed into his face and sent him out of the ring and into the mud pit below. I was breathing a bit heavily before I heard the crowd erupt into a cheer as they all chanted my name.

"Fantastic! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you this years winner of the SwordPlay Tournament, Kirin!" the announcer yelled out as the crowd cheered louder and I threw my hands up in victory and with a gigantic smile on my face. The announcer came onto the stage with a box in hands as he slowly made his way to me.

"Kirin, your prize for winning the tournament." the announcer said before handing me the box. I opened the box and pulled out the item laying within it to find a gold necklace in it with a weird heart shaped symbol dangling from the necklace. "Once again, give it up for Kirin, this year's SwordPlay champion!" the announcer yelled as the crowd cheered one more time before I turned to see Arjay making his way towards me, looking completely untouched from the mud pit.

Before I could say anything to him, he was the first to speak up. "Its time you wake up..." Arjay said before he turned around and started leaving before I could ask him anything. Suddenly, I'm lifted into the air as I look down to see that I'm on Derrick's, Adrian's and Chad's shoulders while Emma stayed right beside us, cheering at my victory.

I looked in the direction of where Arjay walked off to, to find that he has disappeared, leaving me with no answers and more questions than I intended to have.

* * *

><p>Me and my friends were at our usual spot at the fields as Derrick, Adrian and Chad were fighting over the last piece of pizza that I bought for everybody as Emma shook her head in disappointment at their little dispute. Me on the other hand, I sat on the edge of the cliff, feeling over the necklace I received as my prize for winning the tournament.<p>

It turns out that the necklace was indeed made out of real gold, including the weird heart shaped piece on the necklace. I gently slid my fingers across the heart as it felt kind of nice to feel, but that wasn't what was on my mind. It was what Arjay said to me before and after the fight about waking up. Wake up from what? A coma?

I let out a sigh and look at the sun setting into the horizon, wandering what all of this could mean; the dreams, Arjay, waking up. Something about all this isn't making sense. My thoughts are soon interrupted when Emma comes to sit by me and gives me a little nudge to get my attention.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked with a warm smile.

"Yeah, everything's okay..." I half mumbled out and avoided eye contact from her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Emma looking at me with an unconvincing expression before she lifts my head up to look at her face. "What's wrong?" she asked in a worried and curious tone. I had to give her props that even though she's pretty young, she acted more like an adult than her actual age.

"Its...its just that if we do finally leave Hearts End, will we be able to come back?" I asked as Emma stared at me with a blank expression before she laughed and smiled at me. "Of course you big lug. Even though we'll be away from home, it'll always be with us within our hearts. And if we follow our hearts, it'll always lead us home." Emma said before she looked out into the horizon.

I had to admit, she was also pretty smart for her age as well. "...so anyway Kirin, congrats on winning man!" I heard Chad's voice from behind before Chad sat next to me and patted my back as Derrick and Adrian sat down as well. "What? I'm sorry I wasn't listening." I said to Chad as he looked at me shockingly and groaned.

"Man, you missed my congratulation speech?" Chad said a little disappointing before I smiled apagogically at him. "I'm sorry man." I said, patting his back to cheer him up. "That's okay man, it wasn't my best anyway." Chad said before we all looked out into the horizon, probably thinking of what worlds we'll see, what kind of adventure awaits for us, what kind of fun/danger will we get into.

Before I could bring up the courage to tell my friends what Arjay said to me, there was a sudden scream coming from the direction of the town. "What was that?" Derrick asked as we all got up from the edge and looked into the direction of town before another scream was heard. "Whatever it is, it can't be good, come on!" I said, putting on the gold necklace and grabbed WindBreaker before we all ran back towards town.

It only took us two minutes to get there but as soon as we arrived, weird creatures were almost everywhere. I stopped nearly in my tracks in shock as these creatures were the same ones from my dreams. "What are those things?" Adrian asked in slight fear as townspeople were running around scared and the creatures attacked.

"I don't know but whatever they are, they're messing with the wrong town." I said before I swung my sword at a few of them only to find that instead of my sword slamming into them, it completely passed right through them. "What the?!" I asked in shock as the creatures turn to me and my friends as I dropped WindBreaker and we all backed away in fear.

"What do we do now?" Emma asked fearfully as we all heard screams coming from further within town.

"We gotta help everybody as best as we can, c'mon!" I said before I raced right into the town as fast as I could, occasionally dodging the creatures attack to find a way to help everybody who is in danger. As soon as we arrived near the center of town, it was a whole lot worse here. The population of the creatures grew in numbers here as they attacked the townspeople who were running around scared out of their minds.

"Okay, this may get tricky, but if we all stick together and help as many people as possible, we may get out of her unharmed." I said, kicking one of the creatures away from me but instead of getting an answer back from my friends, all I get is silence. "Guys?" I ask before turning around and realizing that they aren't with me anymore. My hearts to beat heavily within my chest as I felt like something bad has happened to them.

"Chad? Adrian? Derrick? Emma?" I called out in hopes of hearing one of them but all I get in response is a couple of screams somewhere else in town. Before I could rush back to see if I could find them, there was a sudden ear-piercing roar that made me cover my ears in pain. I looked around for what could have made that noise before I heard a growl behind me as I whipped around to see a freighting sight.

Standing fifteen feet on four legs, was a tiger-like creature. But instead of being a normal size, it was a whole five feet taller than me, as long as one of the towns building, completely back with a bit of black smoke emitting from the body, red glowing eyes, long sharp teeth and claws and black menacing spikes covering the whole back of the creature. The weirdest thing abut it was on its forehead was a heart shaped symbol, almost identical to my necklace.

The tiger-like creature let out another roar before I turned around and started running for my life. I kept running through town, bypassing terrorized townspeople who were cornered by the creatures before I exited town and began running up a trail that lead further up the mountain in hopes of escaping these creatures and that tiger.

Occasionally, creatures formed from almost nowhere as I ignored them and continued to climb up the path that hopefully lead to salvation from these creatures. I finally reached a large, open area that had a cliff two hundred feet above the town, the air was a little thin up here as it was a little hard to breathe. A gust of wind picked up as I looked down to see most of the town already beginning to be overtaken by the darkness.

_This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening_, I repeatedly thought to myself as I watched the darkness slowly engulf the land I once called home. Before I could do anything else, the tiger-like creature jumped into view right over me and landed right behind me. I turned to look at the creature as it bared its darkened teeth at me and growled fiercely.

With no way to protect myself, I watched helplessly as the beast walks back and forth like it was looking for a good way to attack me and without warning, it leapt right at me. I put my hands in front of my face to shield my face from my fate just before there was a flashing light and I opened my eyes to see the creature flown back and land heavily on its side. I was a bit confused of why this happened before I notice I was holding something in my left hand.

I looked down to see that I'm holding one of the weirdest weapon I have ever seen. The weapon had a flaming-hilt on the end of the blade, the blade itself was long and blue as the teeth was a meteor going up towards the tip of the blade, there was a chain at the hilt of the sword before there was a bronze colored ball of flames keychain. The whole weapon looked weird as it looked like a mixture of a key and a sword. Suddenly, there was a voice that spoke from almost nowhere, saying:

_The darkness greatest fear. The Keyblade..._

"A Key...blade?" I asked myself, letting the word course through my brain before the suppose Keyblade jerked itself forward, pointing right at the creature who growled at it in return. I suddenly knew what to do as I got myself into a fencing stance and readied myself for a tough fight. The tiger growled before leaping towards me before I swung the Keyblade at it, slamming it right into the muzzle of the beast and sending it back once more, this time it kept its balance.

I rolled out of the way just as the tiger slammed its paws right into the crowd before I rushed over to its side and stabbed deeply into its side, making the creature roar in pain. The beast rams one of its paws into me, sending me into the air where I recovered and brought down the Keyblade onto the creature's head, causing the creature's face to slam into the ground.

The creature let out another roar before swatting its paws at me, sending me skidding across the ground before coming to a complete halt. The creature suddenly leapt at me before I rolled out of the way at swung the Keyblade into its side a couple of times. The tiger growled a bit before it curled itself into a ball. Confused at first, I lowered down the Keyblade before the curled-up tiger began to move, making itself into a ball and raced around with its spikes pointed straight out.

I dived out of the way as the balled up tiger raced pass me, leaving a trail of destruction behind. The tiger kept rolling around, trying to squash me, but I kept diving out of the way and kept as far away as possible from it. The tiger suddenly uncurled itself before it got up on its hind legs and let out a fierce roar, giving me an opportunity.

I suddenly twirled the Keyblade around in my hand before I threw it straight at the tiger's exposed chest, landing a blow perfectly as the Keyblade stuck right into the tiger's chest. The tiger growled angrily at me before racing towards me for another attack. The only option I had left was to race toward the tiger myself. As soon as I was two feet away from the beast, I slid underneath it and grabbed the Keyblade, creating a cut from its chest to its tail end.

The tiger whipped around to face me once more but before I could smack the Keyblade into the creature's muzzle, the Keyblade disappeared from my grip and existence. Now weaponless, the tiger swatted its paw at me, sending me flying right off the cliff and towards the engulfed town before. I let out a scream as the air rushed past me but instead of hitting the ground, I was swallowed into the darkness.

_You must wake up..._

That was the only thing I could hear before I closed my eyes for a moment and reopened them to find myself still floating through the darkness. But now, I felt something clinging onto me. I looked down to find the creatures clinging onto me, digging their claws into my skin. "Let go of me!" I yelled before shoving off the creatures before there was a bright light emitting below me. I started falling towards the light at a rapid pace as I tried to prepare myself for whatever was to come.

But as soon as I closed my eyes and prepared for a hard landing, my body goes completely numb and my mind goes blank.


End file.
